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1MDB special panel to submit report this week

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 15): The special committee probing 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) will submit a report prior to its expected dissolution on Saturday, said committee member Cynthia Gabriel.

"We will submit our first preliminary report on the status of the investigation to the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) and the Prime Minister by the end of the week,” she said.

Cynthia, who is also the director of the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism, said investigations on the 1MDB scandal would continue after this but may be conducted by other bodies.

“The investigation will still go on," she told reporters on the sidelines of the International Malaysian Law Conference today.

"Right now, the special committee is working on the money trail involving RM2.6 billion of funds transferred through (former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s) bank accounts. The transaction is not simple as they went through many shell companies.

"The committee is not only investigating the money trail linked to (1MDB subsidiary) SRC International Sdn Bhd, but also four other major money flows," she added.

Explaining the committee’s expected dissolution, she said the CEP and the committee were mandated by the Government to carry out their duties within the first 100 days of the new Pakatan Harapan administration, which ends on Friday.

According to Cynthia, the bizarre flow of funds involving 1MDB is the first unprecedented case at the international level involving grand corruption, as various domestic laws have to be looked at in studying the money trail.

"A lot of money was lost in different jurisdictions, and this raises some concern with regards to which jurisdiction do we use to trace and claim this money," she said, adding that the new Government in Malaysia has signed mutual legal assistance agreements with other countries.